If you haven’t already done so, immediately download all of Lady Gaga’s music for running. When I say all, I mean ALL! This is old news to myself especially because my roommate is OBSESSED (in a good way) with her, but every now and then I see someone tweet about finding out how great Bad Romance is to run to. Come on! It’s one of the best songs around! So therefore I tried to dig up some new jams and of course have linked to the past music posts I’ve done. :)

I preface these links with the fact that they are on youtube and I listen to pretty ghetto rap so keep that in mind while grooving away. So here’s some more jams for you guys!

Say Ahhh – Trey Songs

Bedrock – Young Money

Baby – Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris

Telephone – Lady Gaga and Beyonce

Bobby James – N.E.R.D

Dinosaur – Kesha

Blah, Blah, Blah – Kesha

The Love is Gone – David Guetta

Take it off – Kesha

Backstabber – Kesha

Tick Tock – Kesha

Shinin’ – Birdman

Put it in a Love Song – Beyonce and Alicia Keys

Swing your Rag – T.I. feat. Swizz Beats

Morning after Dark – Timbaland feat. Nelly Furtado

Fed Up – DJ Khaled

Face Drop – Sean Kingston

Imma Be – Black Eyed Peas

Money to Blow – Birdman

I want it all – Birdman

Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass

Coke Bottle – Hurricane Chris

United States of Pop 2009 – DJ Earworm

Also, I’ve posted many music posts, including this one last month, which is a pretty big post with lots of music and then these ones that can be found on this post, this post, this post, this post, and this post.

I ran 6 miles last night! Finally I’m back in the game. Also, last night I went to a really cool event at the local running store, Runner’s High, right down the street from my house. The Nike Truck was there and you can read all about it on the Examiner site. There is a slide show of some of the pictures I took while there and I did a gait analysis as well! Also, perhaps you noticed that I added a button to the sidebar with my shoes and the Examiner.com logo. It’s on the right had side right above the “Visit my aStore button.” If you click on the Examiner button, it will take you to my Examiner site so you can read about anything else I posted there, but I will most likely link to most of my articles when they go up also! This weekend I have a 12 miler and then another portion of the LA Marathon to run as well! Exciting and fun and SUNNY!

xoxo

Sometimes there’s some things that catch your heart and make you suck in your breath as you read. One where before you know it your totally engulfed in the story and you can’t stop reading and then before you can stop your fingers your googling it and wondering if it’s all really true. One of my good friend’s Tommy alerted me to this cool benefit that is happening. They have a bunch of stuff up for auction on Facebook and being a runner, some of these things are AMAZING. To some they may just be another autograph, but to those of us who train, and who know the time it takes and how much dedication and perseverance these people have, it’s a piece of inspiration that can never be replaced.  I wanted to share it with you guys because some of this stuff is seriously special and one of a kind opportunity, and helping out the cause and hearing Jenny’s story is one to share to remind us all that we need to be careful while running and to remember to enjoy the fact that we can run.

You can read her entire story at Runner’s World here,  and I advise you to take the ten minutes to do so. It truly is heartbreaking.

I read it and here’s a brief glimpse of the things that truly touched my heart. Jenny was a world-class athlete that shows a lot of guts and worked incredibly hard. She raced cross country in high school and placed very well. Though not as successful in college, she worked hard and still was a standout. By the beginning of 1995, Jenny, then 27, seemed solidly launched on her professional and personal paths.  Despite her success, she felt haunted by the Olympic dreams of her childhood, and made a New Year’s resolution to qualify for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. That December, at the Tucson Marathon, Jenny made good on her vow, barely meeting the Trials qualifying time with a 2:50:01 performance. Nine weeks later, she finished 84th in the Trials in Columbia, South Carolina.

She steadily improved over the next few years, running a 1:15:05 PR at the 1997 World Half-Marathon Championships. In 2000, she finished 14th in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and four years later, at the 2004 trials, finished 11th with a 2:37:36 PR. That race formed the first part of a trilogy of peak midcareer performances: in the fall of 2004, at age 36, her 2:41:06 clocking at the New York City Marathon placed her 15th overall and first among American women; a year later at the World Championships in Helsinki, she finished 36th in 2:39:02.

In August 2007, at age 39, Jenny was beginning to focus on the next spring’s Olympic Marathon Trials, and to look ahead to a career on the masters’ circuit when something tragic happened. While out on her run, she was hit by a car going 30 mph. She experienced substantial brain damage and the trauma to Jenny’s parietal lobe, located at the top of her head, created a loss of spatial awareness; the one-time national-class distance runner, who was also an accomplished cyclist and swimmer, now struggles to grasp a tea cup. Injuries to Jenny’s occipital lobe, meanwhile, located at the back of her head, limit her ability to read. Her short-term memory impairment results from her injured temporal lobes, while her difficulty with walking results from the trauma to one whole hemisphere of her brain that integrates sensory perception and motor skills. Damage to her brain stem, finally, restricts both her sense of balance and her ability to swallow.

There is also this article about her and this site with updates of the benefits and things going on for her and her family.

They say that Jenny “Makes it Happen” every day. I think that is a great motto to keep in the back of your mind. What are you doing to make it happen? They are continuing to raise money for Jenny and her family and have some incredible things up for auction on facebook. They have a lot of cool stuff, like some concert tickets, event tickets, but some of the ‘running’ prizes are amazing. I highlighted just a few but PLEASE become a fan on facebook to be updated on any new auctions and benefits going on. You can find the facebook page HERE.

The items will be offered on-line only and those that are available for pre-bid. We have established a (modest) minimum bid for each item but certainly expect that the items will ultimately be released at bids in excess of the minimums

Bids will be accepted using an e-mail address set up exclusively for this purpose – makeithappenforjenny@gmail.com When indicating your interest in an item or items, please be VERY specific about the item number and (to be safe) include a short description of the item. We will up-date the bids at least once a day and will note the current bid in the item description. Once you have been awarded the item, we will provide the link to the payment site and will release the item to you upon confirmation of the payment. If you have questions regarding an item, please contact khinrichs@sbcglobal.net – do not use the bid e-mail address.

This seems really cool because you get elite status for the bay to breakers. That is a once in a life time opportunity.

99th ING Bay to Breakers 12k – Item Closes March 1, 2010 6pm CST – Speaking of iconic races…Bay to Breakers defines the term. This race starts in downtown San Francisco and finishes in Golden Gate Park – this is the race famous for the centipedes, outrageous costumes, nak** runners, and everything else that San Francisco has to offer. This is a race that sells out, leaving many runners disappointed and whining… Want to run in 2010? Not to worry, we have 2 “Run with the Elites” packages for the May 16, 2010 race. This package includes 2 guaranteed seeded bibs to start with elites, press conference & lunch, training run, race am breakfast and transportation back to start all with elites; VIP access to post race elite tent; and technical shirts. Almost priceless but available to a generous bidder.

Minimum bid: $200
Current bid $250

The following Milwaukee-area items close on February 3, 2010 at 6pm CST.

All Close for pre-bids on February 3, 2010 at 6pm CST and become part of the auction at the Benefit on 2/4. Note that the newest items are posted first – scroll down for more items and see the photo album for items available at the event.

Lance Armstrong autographed Trek RIDE FOR HOPE jersey – size small. Imagine a LANCE ARMSTRONG jersey! This is truly a spectacular item and definitely suitable for framing!

Minimum bid: $100
Current bid: $150

3 month Bronze Star Coaching Program – Coach Darren De Rueck. Darren De Reuck has been coaching runners for 22 years. Beginning in 1988, he coached club level as well as elite runners in his native South Africa. In 1993, he began serving as a training partner to his wife, Colleen De Reuck, always advising the Coach and later becoming her coach.

Minimum bid: $150
Current bid:

2010 Boston Marathon VIP Spectator Package – Race day seating in bleachers at the Boston Marathon finish line + two race day hospitality invitations. A priceless gift for that special partner or friend who has supported you in your Boston Marathon training.

Minimum bid: $300
Current bid: $400

2009 New York City Marathon Poster – An official 2009 NYC Marathon poster signed by all four marathon Winners – Meb Keflezighi, Derartu Tulu, Kurt Fearnley, and Edith Hunkeler. View a copy of the poster in the Auction Photo Album.

Minimum bid: $150
Current bid: $150

This is like the dream of all dreams. How insane would this be?!

Weekend in Portland, OR for a “Day in the Life of the Oregon Project” – Another priceless opportunity. The winning bidder and a lucky friend will be hosted by Amy Yoder Begley (http://www.yoderbegley.com/) for a weekend in Portland, OR to experience a “Day in the life of the Oregon Project” – this is the group led by Alberto Salazar and includes Adam & Kara Goucher, Matt Tegenkamp, and others. These athletes are training at the highest level. The winning bidder and a friend will be able to watch workouts, meet athletes, tour the Nike campus, and have the opportunity to shop at the Nike employee store. This item includes air travel via Southwest Airlines frequent flyer tickets and hotel for the weekend. The winning bidder will make schedule arrangements directly with Amy. Note that Amy will probably not be available for the tour from June-September.

Minimum bid: $500
Current bid: $800

Elite Level Personal Coaching for the Marathon or Race of Your Choice – How would you like to have Elite Runner and Elite Coach Brad Hudson coach you to a great performance in the marathon or race of your choice? You may not recognize Brad’s name but you will certainly recognize the runners he has coached and is coaching – the likes of Shayne Culpepper and Dathan Ritzenheim. Note this recent article from the New York Road Runners page http://www.nyrr.org/races/pro/interview/2009/Hudson052108.asp. Brad is also the author of “Run Faster from 5K to the Marathon”. This item will include a personal training plan and personal telephone coaching access to Brad – a value of $150/month.

Minimum bid: $250
Current bid: $500

1979 Boston Marathon Poster signed by Winner Bill Rodgers – Perhaps you were at Boston that year; maybe you have met Bill; or maybe you have admired his tenacity, love of running and love of runners. Bill is a special person in our sport and understands how special Jenny is to all of us – hence his donation of this very special item. It can be yours.

Minimum bid: $100
Current bid: $200

Mammoth Track Club Women’s Hooded Sweatshirt (M) Signed by Club Members + photos signed by Deena Kastor and Anna Pierce – Take a look at these items in the Auction Photo Gallery. This sweatshirt is signed by people that we only read about in magazines – Meb Keflezighi, Deena Kastor, Jen Rhines, Ryan Hall, and so many others. Understand that these items were sent especially for our auction. Additional items from the Mammoth Track Club will be available at the event.

Minimum bid: $100

Current bid: $100

Ekiden Uniform signed by Jenny and her Ekiden Team – Many people in the US are not familiar with this special type of marathon relay. It is very popular in Japan – Jenny competed in these events representing the US. We have a generous donation of a set of team “sweats” that they wore when the traveled – the uniform is signed by all team members and coaches, including Jenny. The uniform is men’s size L.

Minimum bid: $100
Current bid: $100

Mammoth Track Club Men’s Hooded Sweatshirt (M) Signed by Club Members + Poster signed by Meb Keflezighi – Take a look at these items in the Auction Photo Gallery. This sweatshirt is signed by people that we only read about in magazines – Meb Keflezighi, Deena Kastor, Jen Rhines, Ryan Hall, and so many others. Understand that these items were sent especially for our auction. Additional items from the Mammoth Track Club will be available at the event.

Minimum bid: $100
Current bid:

I wish I had the money for some of this stuff, because seriously it’s amazing, and Jenny’s story can remind us all to be alert out there and to cherish each breathe we take, and to enjoy running.You can find all the things up for auction here and here, and also there is a lot more other cool running related memorabilia in there, some things just are amazing! Check it out for yourself or a running friend.  Tomorrow I’ll post some new jams to listen to as well!

xoxo

First, I must say that I am completely so encouraged by you guys and the post yesterday. Your kind words do mean the world to me and I’m glad that you understand. By no means am I getting rich, but I really, really struggled with that for like 6 months. So thank you for the kindness.

So by no means am I an exercise guru. I run. That’s what I know how to do. I’m not the fastest girl out there, but I enjoy running and that is what is important to me. Doing it because I enjoy it. But even running can be sketchy at times. Like lately, I haven’t run in a long time due to the weather we’ve been having. I planned to run last night and came home to a downpour so instead I did some yoga, showered and ended up at Karaoke with friends. I didn’t sing but next week I told everyone I would. That should be interesting, hopefully there won’t be any videos. With all this rain we’ve been having around these parts and my immense love for the glorious booty shorts that usually can be found on any picture on my website, a perky butt is a huge asset that I must keep working at. Asset! That just made me die laughing. So I do these simple exercises in the safety and seclusion of my own Cave, basically so that no one will see me doing them besides my roommate, who was the one who took these pictures and let’s face it, she already knows I’m cuckoo. Why I’m posting them online for the world to see? I’m asking myself the same question.

I start off with some Donkey Kicks. I do three sets of twenty on each leg. I really like these and they are super easy. I feel like these work the butt good and also the area under the butt cheek? Weird. These make me the most sore. If I stop doing them for a week and then start back up, I can totally feel it the next day, and though being sore stinks, it does mean that you worked something.

Get on all fours like a dog. Keeping one knee on the ground, tuck your leg into your chest and then kick it out back behind you. Make sure when you kick your leg out that you flex your butt and hold it really tight. If you are doing it right it will burn right in the lower area of your butt. Also, don’t do it too fast, take your time and really extend your leg.

This is the leg kicked out. Keep your leg straight and just remember, the slower you can do it the better. Try to keep your back flat and tighten your butt. Tight, tight, tight like a tiger!

Next we have the most flattering option, politically correct they would be called the Pelvic Thrust. I call them the Humpers ala my track coach in high school. Three sets of twenty of these and you’ll feel the burn.

Pretty much the best picture ever. HA! So when you ‘thrust’ upwards, make sure that you are squeezing your butt together. If you are doing it right, your butt will be feeling tired by the end of the sets. Really squeeze and you’ll feel it a lot more. Also, engaged your core when you go up and use your quads to push yourself up instead of your arms or other parts of your body.

Then you can do regular old lunges. I really hate doing lunges, but I know they strengthen your legs and butt.

Make sure when you go ‘down’ you are not hurting your knees. If you go down too quickly you can hurt your knees and make sure that you are only doing a few to begin with because these will make you more sore than anything else! I don’t let my knee hit the ground when I’m doing lunges either. I just go down and back up and then do the other leg so that I stay in one place. These are definitely not my favorite, but doing them on occasion mixes things up. Also it was brought to my attention that I’m doing these wrong and I totally forgot to focus on my form while taking the pictures of the lunges. Make sure that the front of the of the knee that is at a 90 degree angle doesn’t go over the front of the toe. So in this picture it would be the right leg knee is in front of the toe. Lunge example fail. BUT you get the picture.

Also walking stairs is a great workout for the butt as well, and adding donkey kicks while walking up the stairs is another great option that really focuses on the butt. It might look stupid, but donkey kicks works really well on the stairs. Also, walking up stairs can work the butt just as good as running up them. The key that really works for me is doing everything slowly and really focusing on the muscles. That’s just me at least and the key to any exercise is finding what works for you. I can’t believe I just posted those pictures.

Now, get perky!

xoxo

So you may have noticed that I also am writing, er, we shall call it “writing” for the Examiner. The Examiner is an online journal that focuses on different aspects of peoples lives. It also focuses on specific cities, which is cool. I am the Long Beach Running Examiner and I am suppose to write about things related to Long Beach and the surrounding areas, including races, running, stores, anything really. Right now I have three ‘articles’, which are basically posts that talk about pretty much whatever I want. I like doing the Examiner writing because the writing style is a little bit different than a normal blog post, and it also gives me another ‘outlet’ to write. When you like to write, the only way you are going to get better is write, write, write. I remember hearing that in college, good words to live by, but anyways, I’m going to be adding an Examiner “button” in the near future somewhere on my sidebar and I tweet about some stories that I post on there often. Upcoming though I have pretty much the best post ever, 3 tips to a perkier butt. Prepare yourself.

Also, since I know I’m completely honest on here, it was a very, very hard decision for me to finally put an ad up on my site. You can see if if you scroll down to the right. It’s not pretty and I struggled with this for a very, very long time. That is one of the big questions I get about my site. When are you putting ads up? Well, I put an ad up basically so I can hopefully try to make enough money to pay for races. Right now, I will not be racing again this year after LA Marathon at this point. Financially it’s just not feasible. True life right there. So even if my ad on the side makes me 10 dollars a month, that’s better than nothing, so that is why I put an ad on the side. It will hopefully pay for some smaller races or local races if I want to run them. For some reason I felt the need to let the people who stop by this site know that, because I struggled for a long time about it. I feel like I’m “selling out” and it was very hard for me to finally do that. At the same time, running is a relatively inexpensive sport, but those race fees just keep getting higher and higher and those Nike shoes don’t buy themselves.  So therefore, there is an ad on the right hand side.

After work today, if the rain holds off, I hope to get in a run! My sinus infection seems to just be stuck on my face. Cool. So, has anyone used a Neti Pot? I am considering becoming a freak and using one. Should be interesting. :)

xoxo

It seems that the city of Long Beach is slowly drying out. The sun came out this weekend but I have a sinus infection. Though I planned on running 13 miles on Saturday, I tried to run 2 and promptly found myself back in my bed not being able to breathe. I haven’t run in 7 days. I don’t know when I’ll be able to run again either. Running FAIL. Also, we took a week off running the LA Marathon course so that will pick back up next week hopefully.

On another note, thank you for all the kind words about the Codster. I know he’s up playing with my Mom in heaven and I’m glad they can be reunited. Surf City is in two weeks. 2 weeks? Shoot. That race where I wanted to PR? Yea, not happening. When I was planning on running Surf City though I wasn’t planning on LA, so I guess it will be okay even if I don’t PR. Plus a bunch of my friends are coming down to run that race, so I’m excited to see everyone.

It’s suppose to rain again tomorrow and this week. I really have nothing to say since I can’t work out and I’m in a little bit of a blogging rut, but this video is freaking hilarious, thanks to DJ who found this gem.

That is if you like Jersey Shore.

Pickle for the road, road.

Sometime this week I’ll have another sweet review and some new music to run too!

xoxo