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?

Jingle Jolly Jog 5k Recap and NYX Lippie Countdown Day Two

On a whim I signed up for the Jingle Jolly Jog 5k run by the West Orange Junior Service League. Some people I work with had been discussing doing this race after they run the OUC Half Marathon and after some (ok, virtually none) debate I decided to join them. While registering I looked back and realized that my last race 5k had been in December of 2015, back when I lived in Illinois, so a Santa themed run seemed like a great reintroduction to the distance!

Packet pickup ran almost all week, but I waited until the Friday before to go and claim mine. I had some concern about shirt availability because I waited until super late to register and was hoping for an extra small, which isn't a commonly ordered size. Much to my surprise there were still plenty of shirts available! Now I know I normally don't obsess over the race shirts but give me a quick second to go off my normal track. The shirts for the Jingle Jolly Jog are amazing.. They're a nice soft, Christmas green with a tear away tag which is a huge plus in my book. I prefer clothes to either have a printed on tag or a tear-away tag because I'm always self conscious that the tags are sticking up. When I say these shirts are soft I don't mean a cheap soft but more of a ready to wear, old tshirt that's been well loved, type of soft. My plan was to race in the shirt so I'm somewhat themed but this idea was quickly scrapped because I'd rather not put pin holes in something I fully plan on wearing.

In addition to the tshirt one of the sponsors also provided a drawstring bag that was filled with various goodies! Though I won't use the drawstring bag, other than maybe at the barn, this was a nice gesture that made me smile.

The bag included a few pens, a purse size bottle of hand sanitizer, a magnetic clip, and a pocket first aid kit that may or may not end up in my tack locker.

It also included pamphlets from the sponsors with coupons, and a few brochures from the charities that will be receiving the race proceeds. This was nice because I liked being able to see who is getting the money and what they do for the community.

My favorite item in the bag though was a little postcard from the West Orange Junior Service League. This postcard was a simple thank you note for supporting them and on the back it listed all the charities that will receive funding from the race. For me this instantly set the race apart from other locally run races. I like knowing where funds are going, and this showed that the WOJSL really wants to keep their benefactors in the loop. Because of their transparency I have already bookmarked the WOJSL to keep an eye out for future events. 

Arriving at the location I was a bit dismayed to see that we had to drive down a construction road and jump a curb to get to the parking area. I have a little car and just had to repair two tires from nail punctures so I wasn't excited to drive in an area that may have that risk again. Despite this the parking was extremely organized and well thought out.

Before the race I was happy to see that there were baby pools filled with water bottles and ice for the participants to enjoy. This isn't something I commonly see at races so it was a welcome gesture. The race began after a prayer led by the announcer and it was a quick start. One thing I wasn't fond of was that I didn't see any timing mats at the start and finish area so I wasn't entirely sure about when to start my Garmin. 

The first mile felt quicker than I planned but I felt like I was in a good place. I completed it in 9:13 and hoped to keep it around under 10 minutes per mile. According to my Garmin I failed at this. Mile 2 felt rough for me. There were Florida hills, which in any other place would be considered an ant hill, and sand all across the course. Because I've been running on strictly flat ground I was a bit unprepared for the hills. This is something I'll have to work on because at this point in my running "career" lack of hill training shouldn't be an excuse. Mile 2 was my slowest mile and took me 10:56. Mile 3 was similar to mile 2 but I was determined to not let this race get the best of me and completed it in 10:12. The final 0.1 mile was a sprint because I could see the finish line and wanted to power through it. The biggest issue I had with the finish was that there were cones across the course that looked like they were directing you to a side road. I almost turned down the side road then did some quick mental/visual math and decided to power to the finish. This turned out to be the correct decision and I finished the race in 31:01 which made my overall pace a perfect 10 minute mile. I'm not happy with this time but I am highly amused by the overall pace.

Overall, I''m not thrilled with with my time. I could have done better, but it was good enough to earn me my first age group award! I took 3rd in the 25-29 age group and got a cute little bronze medal in addition to the participant medal!

Overall, I would happily do this race again. The only negatives were caused by my lack of training. I know better but I didn't think while training. At least I know for my Princess training that I need to get out and do hill repeats or long hill runs to get that endurance and muscle strength back.

Now onto day two of the NYX Lippie Countdown. If you're wondering what they heck I'm talking about please see this post from yesterday. After my enjoyment of Eden from yesterday, I was excited to see what today had in store for my lips.

Today's color ended up being Soft Spoken from the Liquid Suede collection. I was excited to see this because I've been eyeing the Liquid Suede collection but have always hesitated because I already have too many full sized lip products. 

As you can see Soft Spoken is an extremely pretty shade that I initially had issues finding the correct words to describe. After looking at other blogs I tend to agree with their description of this being a mauve nude shade. This has that nice boldness of a mauve but is, like the name describes, softer and more of an everyday fall color. The application is extremely simple as this includes NYX's standard doe foot applicator. This is highly pigmented and applies extremely easily, but also cleans up easily if you color outside the lines. 

This lasted nicely through drinking my morning tea and only required a second application after lunch. Now, I did find this lip color to be a bit more troublesome than yesterdays. It retains a bit of a sticky feeling for an hour or so. This isn't bad and I didn't feel like it was going to peel off on my cup but I was constantly aware of it being on my lips. The second issue I had is one that's common with matte lipsticks. This color settled into every line on my lips and did make them look a bit drier than normal. Now, this didn't make me look dehydrated like some matte colors have done in the past, but it didn't have that healthy and plump look that I usually like. 

Despite the heaviness and the settling I would use this color again for an all day wear. It is too dark for a weekend color but I tend to prefer soft pinks and true nudes on the weekends. 

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. 

A Fun Run and A New 5K PR

I'd apologize for the delayed update, but I'm sure this isn't a surprise for anyone.
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On October 18, 2015 I ran the Care 4 Breast Cancer 5k in Woodstock, IL. This was my second 5k of the year and my second race with the Running Depot team. I had participated in the 5k training program that was hosted by Running Depot and felt extremely prepared for this race.

The race was held at the "new" Woodstock North High School (in a small town, with very little happening, things stay new for a loooooooong time) and started at 8:30am, but I got there at 7:00 to ensure that I could park in the high schools lot. Several of my friends arrived closer to 8:30 and were forced to park at the Municipal Building down the street. The race was kind enough to provide shuttles between the Municipal Building and North.

The race expo was held inside the gyms at the high school and had enough offerings to keep me entertained until the race start. There were bagels from Panera, donuts from Country Donuts, and coffee from Starbucks for the participants. There were also several different vendors who were handing out free samples such as chapstick, sunscreen and fun bags. The chapstick was greatly appreciated because of the weather.

That morning when I woke up it was in the 40s so I made sure to wear a thermal top under my racing tank, and my winter running tights. I also brought gloves, a headband, and neck warmer, while these items were nice to have before the race, I wish I hadn't worn them during the race.

With the race set to start at 8:30, my group and I headed over to the start at 8:20. The start was set up with various pace signs to help people line up from fastest to walkers. Unfortunately, most of the individuals at the race did not listen to the pace signs and just charged to get close to the start. This caused a lot of strollers and walkers to be ahead of my group, even though we stopped by the 8 minute/mile sign (we couldn't get further than that due to the wall of people).

The race started promptly at 8:30 and it took my group 2 minutes to cross the starting line. Once we had crossed this line it was fairly easy to weave around the slower individuals and get to a pack of people around my pace. One thing I will note is that people tended to not listen when you announced "on your left", there were several moments when I had to change directions because the person I was trying to pass would jump right where I was going.

The first mile is slightly hilly, but manageable. It is directly down the main road and is lined with balloons, and volunteers cheering. I felt like this mile went extremely fast and was well marked out, I completed it in 9 minutes according to my FitBit data.

The second mile was a bit slower for me but was pretty consistent, with a pace of 9'10". This mile goes through a local neighborhood which is always nice. There were several residents out who were cheering for the runners or just having a good time. It was around this mile that the pack I had been running it started to separate, it provided a nice opportunity for me to try and keep up with the faster runners of the group and really push myself.

The third mile slowed down for me considerably. The first portion of the mile was in the neighborhood, which was fast, but the last portion followed the first mile with all the hills. These hills weren't too severe but because I slacked on my hill training they felt like mountains. It was during this mile that I had a back and forth going with a parent running with a stroller. This "competition" helped me keep going at a steady pace because I kept telling myself that if they can push that stroller and keep a consistent pace then I can run, by myself, at a consistent pace.

The last 0.1 mile was on the driveway to North. This mile was fairly irritating because there were radio hosts from a local radio station "cheering" on the runners. I can't stand listening to radio DJs in the morning and these two individuals happen to be on during my morning commute. Once I finished the race I was pleased to see that I had improved my 5K PR by 6 minutes, bringing it down from 34 minutes to 28!



While I did PR at this race I don't believe that it is one that I would do again.

Pros: Nice expo, fast course.

Cons: Disorganized start, way too many walkers causing a bottleneck, awful parking, and the darn DJs.

Door County Hairpin Run 2015

Obviously I fail and life and keeping this blog updated. Life seemed to get in the way, what with work, running, riding, and just general things that take time. While I managed to write posts and save them in drafts, I never took the time to actually publish them. I apologize in advance for throwing all these saved posts out this weekend.
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On July 4, 2015 I participated in Door County's Hairpin Run. The Hairpin is an annual 5K that occurs on the 4th every year. This is the second time I've participated, and the first time that I participated as a "runner".

When you register for this run there are two different entry options. The first is as a "walker" which means you are not chip timed, the second is as a "runner" which means you are chip timed and you will be able to see your finish line video. My first year I participated as a "walker" because I signed up the day before, and the race is "capped" at 1100 runners. Be prepared that this is an extremely popular race.

Because I did compete as a runner this year I was able to receive an accurate time of 32:16. Not necessarily a time I'm happy with for a 5K, but for this specific race I'll happily take it.

Picture Credit: hairpinrun.com

The Hairpin starts in the main intersection in Fish Creek, WI (If you've been there before, it's the intersection with the awkward 3-way stop by Hideside.) on Highway 42. The road is not blocked off until just before the race starts, which does get a bit scary when runners decide to ignore traffic and line up in the road early. Once the road is officially closed the runners pile into the street and line up for the start. This race does not utilize any type of corral system, and pretty much assumes that runners and walkers will know where they belong.

Despite this race occurring on July 4th, there is no National Anthem sung or any acknowledgment that it's a national holiday. Once the road is officially cleared and the runners are lined up, the race is started. This year someone (race organizers?) flew a drone over the starting line and I believe it was used to track the first runner.

Once the gun goes off you are instantly treated to a HUGE hill. I hate this hill, The hill takes roughly half a mile to defeat and I added on a few more tenths of a mile darting around walkers or slower runners. I don't think I would hate this hill as much if it weren't for having to focus on getting around everyone.

Once the hill is completed you turn into a little neighborhood type area. Now the neighborhood is where the race really becomes fun. All along the course there are people cheering and just creating a festive atmosphere. This year, one family went above and beyond and set up their own water stop around the 1.5 mile mark (according to my GPS). Because I didn't realize they weren't part of the race I didn't give them more than my customary thank you. So, random family who is super awesome, thank you for going out of our way to help the runners. It's people like you who make this race fun!

Back to the course. This course goes uphill for about the first half, with that first hill being the worst. Then it goes downhill for the second half. It gets the name Hairpin from a hairpin turn while going downhill. This turn is a great marker for me because it signals that I'm almost done with the race. But it's also a marker you have to be careful with. Because it's a sharper turn and it's downhill, I did see two people slip and almost fall. Please be careful with the turn, take it wide if needed or slow down!

Once you finish the race they have a timing area set up for you to view your time and a refreshment area with water, Gatorade, cookies, and bananas. At the end of the refreshment area there are coolers, so you can keep refilling your original cup and not have to get in line again.

Overall, this is an enjoyable family race that I would recommend for anyone up in Door County over the 4th of July.

It should be noted that while the highway is closed for the race, the other roads are not. This year I had to turn around and wait for my mom and brother to finish the race. While waiting a car drove through the finish line. According to other runners this lady pulled out of her driveway and started driving on the race course! She was going fairly fast when she crossed the finish line and left a good number of angry participants in her wake. Several parents were angry because they were letting their children walk the course and run up ahead. Those poor kids (or runners with headphones!) could have gotten hurt! My mom attempted to speak to race organizers about why a car ended up on the course, and she got blown off. Similarly, a runner walked up to a paramedic to ask where the police were and he got blow off. Despite the race being a "safe, closed" course I would not plan on it staying clear. The organizers and police patrolling the course did a poor job handling the situation and should have made it clear that cars can, and will enter the course.